One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a book about life in a mental hospital. It is told by patient named Chief Bromden. He and several other patients live in a mental hospital and everything they do is controlled by workers. Their routine is the same day after day and they are bossed around by the Big Nurse. Then one day a new patient comes to the hospital, his name is McMurphy. McMurphy turns the hospital upside down by doing everything he can to stir the pot. By doing this he becomes sort of the leader of the patients. They look up to him to stand up for them. Then McMurphy changes because he sees that the Big Nurse has power over him. She decides whether he will ever get out of the hospital. By doing this he lets down the other patients and one of them dies from what seems to be a suicide. After this McMurphy sees that he can't give up on them so he starts another rebellion. So he decides they should have a big party so he could escape. They had the big party but no one escaped and another patient ended up committing suicide. The morning after the party, McMurphy goes after the Big Nurse and rips her dress. This results with the Big Nurse using her power to have McMurphy turned into a vegetable (nearly brain dead) by having a surgery done on him. Bromden puts McMurphy out of his misery by killing him so that he won't be controlled by the Big Nurse. At the end of the book Bromden finally breaks free from the mental hospital by escaping out a window.
McMurphy and Bromden ("Gone Movies").
Outstanding?
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is on the Outstanding Books for the College Bound list. It is on this list because it is outstanding. The book is outanding because it uses a lot of symbolism. The Big Nurse's perfect outfit symbolized how uptight the hospital was. "The Big Nurse tends to get real put out if something keeps her outfit from running like a smooth, accurate, precision-made machine. The slightest thing messy or out of kilter or in the way ties her into a little white knot of tight-smiled fury. She walks around with that same doll smile crimped between her chin and her nose and that same calm whir coming from her eyes, but down inside of her she's tense as steel. I know, I can feel it. And she don't relax a hair till she gets the nuisance attended to --what she calls 'adjusted to surroundings'' (Kesey 26). Everything had to be perfect and things were very strict. So when McMurphy ripped the Big Nurse's perfect outfit at the end of the book it represented the hospital going out of control. Another piece of symbolism was the fog. The fog was something that Bromden believed came through the vents whenever the hospital workers wanted it to. This was one of Bromden's reoccuring hallucinations and it symbolized how far away from reality Bromden was. "Before noontime they're at the fog machine again but they haven't got it turned up full; it's not so thick but what I can see if I strain real hard. One of these days I'll quit straining and let myself go completely, lose myself in the fog the way some of the Chronics have, but for the time being I'm interested in this new man --I want to see how he takes to the Group Meeting coming up" (Kesey 39). Bromden sees the fog and can see that it takes him away from reality like the Chronics. He is being pulled out of that fog and back into reality by McMurphy because he wants to see what he is up to. McMurphy himself is symbolic, he stands for freedom. He tried to help the other crazy people by breaking the rules of the mental hospital. McMurphy worked on braking the routine by betting he could crack the Big Nurse. "Bug her till she comes apart at those neat little seams, and shows, just one time, she ain't so unbeatable as you think" (Kesey 72). He did this so everyone could have a little more freedom, thus he symbolizes freedom. Symbolism plays a big part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and it is the reason that it is outstanding.
Recommendation
I would recommend this book for several reasons. One would be that it has an amazing plot. A lot of events occur that may surprise the reader and are very interesting. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest also has some very intriguing characters. My favorite would have to be McMurphy because of all the crazy things he does that have nothing to do with him actually being crazy. The book starts slow but gets pretty interesting towards the middle and into the climactic ending. I recommend this book to anyone that wants to read something that is original and clever. However, I would not recommend this book to younger people because it contains some adult topics.I
McMurphy going through electroshock treatment ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest").
Trailer for the movie based on the book ("Trailer").
Works Cited
Book:
Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. New York: Penquin Books, 1962.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by: Ken Kesey
Summary
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a book about life in a mental hospital. It is told by patient named Chief Bromden. He and several other patients live in a mental hospital and everything they do is controlled by workers. Their routine is the same day after day and they are bossed around by the Big Nurse. Then one day a new patient comes to the hospital, his name is McMurphy. McMurphy turns the hospital upside down by doing everything he can to stir the pot. By doing this he becomes sort of the leader of the patients. They look up to him to stand up for them. Then McMurphy changes because he sees that the Big Nurse has power over him. She decides whether he will ever get out of the hospital. By doing this he lets down the other patients and one of them dies from what seems to be a suicide. After this McMurphy sees that he can't give up on them so he starts another rebellion. So he decides they should have a big party so he could escape. They had the big party but no one escaped and another patient ended up committing suicide. The morning after the party, McMurphy goes after the Big Nurse and rips her dress. This results with the Big Nurse using her power to have McMurphy turned into a vegetable (nearly brain dead) by having a surgery done on him. Bromden puts McMurphy out of his misery by killing him so that he won't be controlled by the Big Nurse. At the end of the book Bromden finally breaks free from the mental hospital by escaping out a window.
Outstanding?
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is on the Outstanding Books for the College Bound list. It is on this list because it is outstanding. The book is outanding because it uses a lot of symbolism. The Big Nurse's perfect outfit symbolized how uptight the hospital was. "The Big Nurse tends to get real put out if something keeps her outfit from running like a smooth, accurate, precision-made machine. The slightest thing messy or out of kilter or in the way ties her into a little white knot of tight-smiled fury. She walks around with that same doll smile crimped between her chin and her nose and that same calm whir coming from her eyes, but down inside of her she's tense as steel. I know, I can feel it. And she don't relax a hair till she gets the nuisance attended to --what she calls 'adjusted to surroundings'' (Kesey 26). Everything had to be perfect and things were very strict. So when McMurphy ripped the Big Nurse's perfect outfit at the end of the book it represented the hospital going out of control. Another piece of symbolism was the fog. The fog was something that Bromden believed came through the vents whenever the hospital workers wanted it to. This was one of Bromden's reoccuring hallucinations and it symbolized how far away from reality Bromden was. "Before noontime they're at the fog machine again but they haven't got it turned up full; it's not so thick but what I can see if I strain real hard. One of these days I'll quit straining and let myself go completely, lose myself in the fog the way some of the Chronics have, but for the time being I'm interested in this new man --I want to see how he takes to the Group Meeting coming up" (Kesey 39). Bromden sees the fog and can see that it takes him away from reality like the Chronics. He is being pulled out of that fog and back into reality by McMurphy because he wants to see what he is up to. McMurphy himself is symbolic, he stands for freedom. He tried to help the other crazy people by breaking the rules of the mental hospital. McMurphy worked on braking the routine by betting he could crack the Big Nurse. "Bug her till she comes apart at those neat little seams, and shows, just one time, she ain't so unbeatable as you think" (Kesey 72). He did this so everyone could have a little more freedom, thus he symbolizes freedom. Symbolism plays a big part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and it is the reason that it is outstanding.
Recommendation
I would recommend this book for several reasons. One would be that it has an amazing plot. A lot of events occur that may surprise the reader and are very interesting. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest also has some very intriguing characters. My favorite would have to be McMurphy because of all the crazy things he does that have nothing to do with him actually being crazy. The book starts slow but gets pretty interesting towards the middle and into the climactic ending. I recommend this book to anyone that wants to read something that is original and clever. However, I would not recommend this book to younger people because it contains some adult topics.I
McMurphy going through electroshock treatment ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest").
Trailer for the movie based on the book ("Trailer").
Works Cited
Book:
Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. New York: Penquin Books, 1962.
Pictures:
"Answers." Google.com 29 Oct. 2007. <http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/7/7d/200px-Cuckoo_nest.jpg>
"Gone Movies." Google.com. 3 Nov. 2007. <http://www.gonemovies.com/WWW/Drama/Drama/OneFlewMcmurphyChief.jpg>
Music:
"Gnarls Barkley - Crazy." ProjectPlaylist.com. 3 Nov. 2007. <http://macabax.93.free.fr/Music/Gnarls%20Barkley%20-%20Crazy.mp3>
Videos:
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." YouTube.com. 7 Nov. 2007. <http://youtube.com/watch?v=DCUmINGae44>
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Trailer." YouTube.com. 7 Nov. 2007. <http://youtube.com/watch?v=5WJgQ37JmFc>